BASEBALL

BASEBALL; Colón or Clemens? Yankees Keep Mulling It Over

By JACK CURRY

Published: December 17, 2002

NASHVILLE, Dec. 16—
General Manager Brian Cashman desperately hoped to leave the winter meetings with Bartolo Colón or Roger Clemens signed and sealed as a Yankee. Instead, he departed with neither and endless questions about which one the team wants more or can actually get. So the Colón-versus-Clemens pitching debate remains the first priority in a busy off-season that will only get more hectic.

The Yankees could have had Colón if they would have given the Montreal Expos first baseman Nick Johnson, outfielder Juan Rivera and pitcher Orlando Hernández and maybe as much as $5 million to offset Hernández's potential 2003 salary. But Cashman rejected that proposal and said he had asked Expos General Manager Omar Minaya for flexibility, a vague way of asking to eliminate the cash from the deal.

Minaya said: ''We disagreed on the value of my player. He said he couldn't do anything right now. We're going to continue to talk.''

Minaya will also continue discussions with the Boston Red Sox, who rejected an offer that would have sent third baseman Shea Hillenbrand, pitcher Casey Fossum and a third player to the Expos for Colón and third baseman Fernando Tatis. That proposal was also heavily influenced by money because the disappointing Tatis will make $6.25 million next season; Minaya wants to unload his salary to help meet his mandate to have a payroll around $40 million. In addition to the Yankees and the Red Sox, Minaya is in advanced talks with a few other teams.

Cashman was scheduled to have one more conversation with the agents for Clemens before he left this afternoon. Randy Hendricks, one of Clemens's agents, said the sides had moved from 20 percent apart in their proposals to 10 percent, but a person familiar with the discussions said that portrayal was too optimistic.

The Yankees do not want to offer Clemens more than $8 million, and he is still asking for more than $10 million. Hendricks said Clemens would be willing to defer some money as part of the contract and reiterated that Clemens had told him to continue negotiating with the Yankees ''until the very end'' before considering other teams. The Yankees have told Clemens he needs to ask for less than $10 million.

Other than signing Todd Zeile as a reserve, it was a frustrating four days for the Yankees. Cashman was unsuccessful in his attempts to acquire Colón, and, not surprisingly, he made no progress in moving the contracts of pitcher Sterling Hitchcock ($6 million) and outfielders Raul Mondesi ($7 million) and Rondell White ($5 million).

The Yankees are still the favorites to sign Hideki Matsui, the Japanese outfielder, to a three- or four-year contract that could average about $8 million a season. But Arn Tellem, Matsui's agent, said he had not started serious negotiations with the five teams, including the Mets, who expressed interest in his client.

''Everything is still preliminary,'' Tellem said.

One baseball person who spoke with the Yankees said they thought Minaya was overstating Boston's interest in Colón. But the Yankees conceded that strategy was shrewd because it would unnerve George Steinbrenner, the team's principal owner, if he thought Colón was headed to Boston.

Although General Manager Theo Epstein said the Red Sox and the Expos ''exchanged ideas, and there's no fit now,'' he planned to talk to Minaya on Tuesday. The Red Sox seem like serious players for Colón, who could join Pedro Martínez and Derek Lowe and give them three pitchers who were 20-game winners last season.

As Minaya spoke generally about his sales pitch for Colón, he continued pitting the Yankees against the Red Sox.

''I tried to explain why if you get these players you can win the division and win the World Series,'' he said.

Minaya said he had one formal trade proposal to accept or reject by Tuesday. He would not identify the other team and intimated that it involved trading Colón for another high-salaried player, then trading that player. Even as teams lauded and criticized Minaya for his stubbornness, he continued to operate at a methodical pace.

''Ideally, I would have liked to get it done here,'' Minaya said. ''If it didn't get done, fine. We are closer to getting a deal done than we were on Friday.''

Shortly before Cashman left for the airport, he stressed his pessimism about making a significant move today.

When Cashman was asked if any development could keep him at the Opryland Hotel, he said, ''A snowstorm.''

INSIDE PITCH

TODD ZEILE is scheduled to have a physical in New York on Tuesday, the final hurdle before his one-year, $1.5 million contract with the Yankees becomes official. Zeile is excited about being reunited with JOE TORRE, who managed him for six seasons in St. Louis. ''He and I, tampering as it may be, have always said, 'Let's try to find a way to end our days together,' '' Zeile said. That may happen as Zeile, a former Met, arrives as a reserve infielder and designated hitter. But Zeile, who is 37, expects to have a larger role than that of RON COOMER, whom he is essentially replacing. ''I think I can help the team to a greater degree than getting 175 at-bats,'' Zeile said.

Photo: Roger Clemens told Randy Hendricks, one of his agents, to continue negotiating a one-year deal with the Yankees ''until the very end.'' (Barton Silverman/The New York Times)